Vertiv, headquartered in Ohio, USA, brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to ensure customers’ vital applications run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network. The industries Vertiv serves include Education, Federal, Healthcare, Retail, etc. Vertiv employs approximately 20,000 people and does business in more than 130 countries. Some of the offerings of Vertiv include: critical Power: Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), DC power systems, power distribution, industrial AC and DC systems, static transfer switches; thermal management: heat rejection, high density solutions, outdoor packaged systems, room cooling, in-row cooling, rack cooling, evaporative free cooling, free cooling chillers, thermal control and monitoring; racks & enclosures: integrated solutions, racks & containment, outdoor enclosures; monitoring & management: serial console, secure KVM, IP KVM switches, desktop KVM and KM, software, monitoring; services: project services, UPS & battery services, thermal services, rack PDU services, DC power services, electrical reliability services, electrical safety & compliance; and more. In an interaction with NCN, Mr. A.S. Prasad, GM – Product Management & Marketing, Vertiv, shares their company’s solutions, perspective and market strategy.
Please brief us about Vertiv, its solutions and how they help your clients.
Vertiv is a digital infrastructure provider that brings together hardware, software, analytics, and ongoing services to ensure customers’ vital applications run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling, and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network. Vertiv’s portfolio includes- critical power solutions like UPS, DC power systems, industrial ACs, etc., thermal management solutions like enclosure cooling, heat rejection, room cooling, etc racks and enclosures, and other maintenance and service solutions.
Datacentres require infrastructure solutions that support IT growth while offering greater efficiency and cost reduction. Vertiv’s portfolio of solutions provides support to critical facilities like efficiency, interoperability, and control to implement an intelligent and integrated infrastructure strategy.
Vertiv has always extended constant support to its customers even through the challenging times of nationwide lockdowns. Vertiv provided services to customers that fell under the Essential Services Maintenance Act, i.e. datacentres, IT &ITeS, telecom, banking, etc. Through dynamic solutions and services, Vertiv provides essential digital infrastructure to ensure smooth functioning and continuity of our customers’ businesses.
What are Vertiv’s flagship solutions in terms of value and volumes? How do they help customers?
Among the several solutions that we offer, our flagship ones are Thermal Management, uninterruptible power supply systems (UPS), Services and Remote Monitoring Services. Mission-critical facilities require enterprise grade precision datacenter cooling, and we provide advanced and customized thermal equipment, heat management, and humidity control solutions. Some of the solutions we offer in this regard are enclosure cooling, heat rejection, room cooling, rack cooling, and evaporative free cooling, among others.
Vertiv’s Remote Monitoring Services are also crucial to protect our customers’ critical systems and ensure continuous operations, customers also require solutions to remotely manage multiple datacenters. From diagnostics and ensuring optimal functioning of equipment to remote system restoration, the new work-from-anywhere models have pushed businesses to operate and manage employees and their facilities remotely.
How did Vertiv fare in 2020 and how did Covid-19 impact Vertiv?
In 2020, we had some disruptions in the supply chain due to suppliers located in the containment zones. On the demand side, we saw that the project business was picking up and data usage in the country was multiplying exponentially which provided a conducive environment for Vertiv’s growth.
Barring the initial lockdown period, we continued to keep our factories operational since April 2020. Following all the rules implemented by the government and the social distancing norms, Vertiv was able to operate because several of our clients in India are from sectors that were covered under the Essential Services Maintenance Act. Hence, we were instrumental in ensuring business continuity across several of our partners.
What are Vertiv’s most impactful differentiators over its competitors?
We at Vertiv are always committed to providing solutions to our customers that are advanced and evolve with the customers’ requirements. Some of the factors that make our solutions stand out are:
- Lifecycle management and service level agreement
- Solid industry experience and customers’ confidence in Vertiv’s Service Team
- Pan India provision of expert manpower with Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Accredited Team Lead for services execution
- Our product portfolio is well equipped as per Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) guidelines
- Expert manpower with BEE accredited team lead for pan India execution
- Assessment done by manpower trained with Electrical Transient Analyzer Program (ETAP) and SKM system analysis software
- Our customer service relationships
Additionally, our large installation and service base is extremely strong. Our service force is one of the largest in the country when it comes to providing services to critical digital infrastructure. We witnessed this strength during the nationwide lockdowns, when we continued to service our customers and ensured continuity of their businesses.
What is your supply channel policy and how do you educate and motivate your channel?
India is an important market for Vertiv, and our partners play a critical role in helping us stay connected with our customers. We have always believed in empowering our channel partners and addressing their needs. We offer them 360-degree support through the Vertiv Partner Portal. This portal enables our partners with dedicated sales support, sales selectors and configurators, marketing resources, demo programs, online partner trainings, content syndication, and deal registration and incentive program.
Our partner training program ensures that our partners have access to all the necessary information whenever they need it. All our partners have access to marketing resources and tools to help generate suitable opportunities. The program enables partners to identify new opportunities in the market, diagnose customer problems and provide customized solutions, and gain thorough understanding of Vertiv’s solutions.
To keep our partners motivated, we introduce programs like our current one – ‘New Year Bash 2021’. This program offers Network Solution Partners (NSP) and Value Added Resellers (VAR) channel partners in India the opportunity to earn PAYBACK points for sales of small and micro uninterruptible power supply (UPS – up to 20 kVA). It offers channel partners the chance to redeem PAYBACK points for multiple slabs ranging between INR 25,000 to INR 25,00,000.
What are the sales priorities for Vertiv in 2021? What are Vertiv’s plans for the next 3 years?
Be it on-site project management or energy consumption monitoring, among other things, Vertiv will continue to provide a variety of programs and services to support its clients’ critical infrastructure. Additionally, Vertiv will continue to stay committed to its R&D initiatives and focus on coming out with efficient products that will contribute to customer sustainability strategies.
This year, Vertiv is looking to focus on operations and maintenance, monitoring data assessment, energy and power quality audit, electrical assessment and project services. We pride ourselves on the services and programs that we offer to our customers and partners and will continue to focus on innovating these going forward.
For the next couple of years, our plan is to strengthen our channel partner base and focus on our projects business. There is a lot of opportunity in the colocation space, and we are looking to grow our business in this area. We are also constantly innovating our products and increasing our focus on ‘Make in India’ to deliver products that are made and developed indigenously.
